No More Learning

Your honorable board must therefore determine how
far the circumstance of extortion may aggravate the
crime of disobedience to your positive orders, -- the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- SEVENTH DAY. 223
exposing the government in a manner to sale, and
receiving the infamous wages of corruption from opposite parties and contending interests. We speak with boldness, because we speak from conviction
founded upon indubitable evidence, tliat, besides the
above sums specified in the distribution account, to
the amount of 228,1251. sterling, there was likewise
to the value of several lacs of rupees procured from
Nundcomar anid Roy Dullub, each of whom aspired
at and obtained a promise of that very employment
it was predetermined to bestow on Mahomed Reza
Khan.
(Signed at the end,)
"C CLIVE.
W3" B. SUMNER.
JOHN CARNAC.
H. VERELST.
FRAS SYKES. "
My Lords, the persons who sign this letter are
mostly the friends, and one of them is the gentleman
who is bail for and sits near Mr. Hastings. They
state to you this horrible and venal transaction, by
which the government was set to sale, by which a
bastard son was elevated to the wrong of the natural and legitimate heir, and in which a prostitute, hIis mother, was put in the place of the honorable and legitimate mother of the representative of the family. Now, if there was one thing more than another
under heaven which Mr. Hastings ought to have
shunned, it was the suspicion of being concerned in
any such infamous transaction as that which is here
recorded to be so, -- a transaction in which the countly gove-rnment had before been. sold to this very
? ? ? ? 224 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
woman and her offspring, and in which two great
candidates for power in that country fought against
each other, and perhaps the largest offerer carried it.
When a Governor-General sees the traces of corruption in the conduct of his predecessors, the traces of injustice following that corruption, the traces of notorious irregularity in setting aside the just claimants in favor of those that have no claim at all, he has
that before his eyes which ought to have made him
the more scrupulously avoid, and to keep at the farthest distance possible from, the contagion and even Ohe suspicion of being corrupted by it. Moreover,
my Lords, it was in consequence of these very transactions that the new covenants were made, which bind the servants of the Company never to take a
present of above two hundred pounds, or some such
sum of money, from any native in circumstances
there described. This covenant I shall reserve for
consideration in another part of this business. It
was in pursuance of this idea, and to prevent the
abuse of the prevailing custom of visiting the governing powers of that country with a view of receiving presents from them, that the House of Commons
afterwards, in its inquiries, took up this matter and
passed the Regulating Act in 1773.
But to return to Munny Begum. - This very person, that had got into power by the means already mentioned, did Mr. Hastings resort to, knowing her
to be well skilled in the trade of bribery, -knowing
her skilful practice in business of this sort, - knowing the fitness of her eunuchs, ilstrunents, and
agents, to be dealers in this kind of traffic. This
very woman did Mr. Hastings select, stigmatized as
she was in the Company's record, stigmatized by
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 225
the very gentleman who sits next to him, and whose
name you have heard read to you as one of those
members of the Council that reprobated the horrible
iniquity of the transaction in which this woman was
a principal agent. For though neither the young Nabob nor his mother ought to have been raised to the'stations in which they were placed, and were placed there for the purpose of facilitating the receipt of
bribes, yet the order of Nature was preserved, and
the mother was made the guardian of her own son:
for though she was a prostitute and he a bastard, yet
still she was a mother and he a son; and both Nature and legitimate disposition with regard to the
guardianship of a son went together.
But what did Mr. Hastings do? Improving upon
the preceding transaction, improving on it by a kind
of refinement in corruption, he drives away the lawful mother from her lawful guardianship; the mother
of nature he turns out, and he delivers her son to
the stepmother to be the guardian of his person.
That your Lordships may see who this woman was,
we shall read to you a paper from your Lordships'
minutes, produced before Mr. Hastings's face, and
never contradicted by him from that day to this.
At a Consultation, 24th July, 1775. -" Shah Chanim, deceased, was sister to the Nabob Mahub ul
Jung by the same father, but different mothers; she
married Mir Mahomed Jaffier Khlal, by whom she
had a son and a daughter; the name of the former
was Mir Mahomed Sadduc Ali Khan, and the latter
was married to Mir Mahomed Cossim Khaln Sadduc.
Ali Khan had two sons and two daughters; the sons'
names are Mir Sydoc and Mir Sobeem, who are now
VOL. XII. 15
? ? ? ? 226 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
living; the daughters were married to Sultan Mirza
Daood.
"Baboo Begum, the mother of the Nabob Mobarek
ul Dowlah, was the daughter of Summin Ali Khan,
and married Mir Mahomed Jaffier Khan. The history of Munny Begum is this. At a village called Balkonda, near Sekundra, there lived a widow, who,
from her great poverty, not being able to bring up
her daughter Munny, gave her to a slave girl belonging to Summin Ali Khan. whose name was Bissoo.
During the space of five years she lived at Shahjehanabad, and was educated by Bissoo after the manner of a dancing-girl. Afterwards the Nabob Sllamut Jung, upon the marriage of Ikram ul Dowlah, brother to the Nabob Surajah ul Dowlah, sent for Bissoo
Beg's set of dancing-girls from Shalljehanabad, of
which Munny Begum was one, and allowed them ten
thousand rupees for their expenses, to dance at the
wedding. While this ceremony was celebrating, they
were kept by the Nabob; but some months afterwards
he dismissed them, and they took up their residence
in this city. Mir Mahomed Jaffier Khan then took
them into keeping, and allowed Munny and her set
five hundred rupees per month, till at length, finding that Munny was pregnant, he took her into his
own house. She gave birth to the Nabob Nujim ul
Dowlah, and in this manner she has remained in the
Nabob's family ever since. "
My Lords, I do not mean to detain you long upon
this part of the business, but I have thought it necessary to advert to these particulars. As to all the
rest, the honorable and able Manager who preceded
me has sufficiently impressed upon your Lordships'
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 227
minds the monstrous nature of the deposing of the
Nabob's mother from the guardianship of her son, for
the purpose of placing this woman there at the head
of all his family and of his domestic concerns in the
seraglio within doors, and at the head of the state
without, together with the disposal of the whole of
the revenue that was allowed him. Mr. Hastings
pretends, indeed, to have appointed at the same time
a trusty mutsuddy to keep the accounts of the revenue; but he has since declared that no account had been kept, and that it was in vain to desire it or to
call for it. This is the state of the case with respect
to the appointment of Munny Begum.
With regard to the reappointment of Mahomed
Reza Kha'n, you have heard from my worthy fellow
Manager that he was acquitted of the chlarges that
had been brought against him by Mr. Hastings, after
a long and lingering trial. The Company was perfectly satisfied with the acquittal, and declared that
he was not only acquitted, but honorably acquitted;
and they also declared that lie had a fair claim to a
compensation for his sufferings. They not only declared him innocent, but meritorious. They gave orders that lie should be considered as a person who
was to be placed in office again upon the first occasion, and that he had entitled himself to this favor by his conduct in the place which lie had before filled.
The Council of the year 1775, (whom I can never
mention nor shall mention without lionor,) who complied faithlflly with the act of Parliament, who never disobeyed the orders of the Company, and to whom
no man! las imputed even the shadow of corruption,
found that this Munny Begum had acted in the manner which my honorable fellow Manager has stated:
? ? ? ? 228 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that she had dissipated the revenue, that she had neglected the education of the Nabob, and had thrown
the whole judicature of the country into confilsion.
They ordered that she should be removed from her
situation; that the Nabob's own mother should be
placed at the head of the seraglio, a situation to
which she was entitled; and with regard to the rest
of the offices, that Mahomled Reza Khan should be
employed to fill them.
Mr. Hastings resisted these propositions with all
his might; but they were by that happy momentary
majority carried against him, and Mallomed Reza
Khian was placed in his former situation. But Mr.
Hastings, though thus defeated, was only waiting for
what he considered to be the fortunate moment for
returning again to his corrupt, vicious, tyrannical,
and disobedient habits. The reappointment of Mahorned Reza Khan had met with the fullest approbation of the Companly; and they directed, that, as long as his good behavior entitled him to it, he should
continue in the office. Mr. Hastings, however, without alleging ally ill behavior, and for no reason that
can be assigned, but his corrupt engagement with
Munny Begum, overturned (upon the pretence of
restoring the Nabob to his rights) the whole of the
Company's arrangement, as settled by the late majority, and approved by the Court of Directors.
I have now to show you what sort of a man the
Nabob was, who was thus set up in defiance of the
Company's authority; what Mr. Hastings himself
thought of him; what the judges thought of him;
and what all the world thought of him.
I must first make your Lordships acquainted with
a little preliminary matter. A man named Roy
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 229
Rada Churn had been appointed vakeel, or agent, to
manage the Nabob's affairs at Calcutta. One of this
man's creditors attached him there. Roy Rada
Churn pleaded his privilege as the vakeel or representative of a sovereign prince. The question came
to be tried in the Supreme Court, and the issue was,
Whether the Nabob was a sovereign prince or not.
I think the court did exceedingly wrong in entertaining such a question; because, in my opinion,
whether he was or was not a sovereign prince, any
person representing him ought to be left free, and to
have a proper and secure means of concerting his affairs with the Council. It was, however, taken otherwise; the question was brought to trial, whether the Nabob was a sovereign prince sufficient to appoint and
protect a person to manage his affairs, under the name
of an ambassador. In that cause did Mr. Hastings
come forward to prove, by a voluntary affidavit, that
he had no pretensions, no power, no authority at
all, - that he was a mere pageant, a thing of straw,
-and that the Company exercised every species of
authority over him, in every particular, and in every
respect; and that, therefore, to talk of him as an
efficient person was an affront to the common sense
of mankind: and this you will find the judges afterwards declared to be their opinion.
I will here press again one remark, which perhaps
you may recollect that I have made before, that the
chief and most usual mode in which all the villanies
perpetrated in India, by Mr. Hastings and his copartners in iniquity, has been through the medium
and inistrumentality of persons whom they pretended
to have rights of their own, and to be acting for
themselves; whereas such persons were, in fact, to
? ? ? ? 230 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tally dependent upon him, Mr. Hastings, and did no
one act that was not prescribed by him. In order,
therefore, to let you see the utter falsehood, fraud,
prevarication, and deceit of the pretences by which
the native powers of India are represented to be
independent, and are held up as the instruments
of defying the laws of this kingdom, under pretext
of their being absolute princes, I will read the affidavit of Warren Hastings, Esquire, Governor-General
of Bengal, made the 31st July, 1775. '" This deponent maketh oath, and saith, That the
late President and Council did, in or about the
month of August, 1772, by their own authority appoint Munny Begum, relict of the late Nabob, Mir
Jaffier Ali Khlan, to be guardian to the present Nabob, AMobarek ul Dowlah, and Rajah Gourdas, son
of Maha Rajah Nundcomar, to be dewan of the said
Nabob's household, allowing to the said Munny Begum a salary of 140,000 rupees per annum, and to the said Raijah Gourdas, for himself and officers, a
salary of 100,000 rupees per annum: That the said
late President and Council did, in or about the
month of August, 1772, plan and constitute regular
and distinct courts of justice, civil and criminal, by
their own authority, for administration of justice to
the inhabitants throughout Bengal, without consulting the said Nabob or requiring his coimcurrence, and that the said civil courts were made solely dependent
on the Presidency of Calcutta; and the said criminal
courts were put under the inspection arid control of
the Company's servants, although ostensibly under
the name of the Nazim, as appears from the following extracts from the plan for the administration of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 231
justice, constituted by the President and Council as
aforesaid. "
My Lords, we need not go through all the circumstances of this affidavit, which is in your minutes,
and, to save time, I will refer your Lordships to
them. This affidavit, as I have already said, was
put into the court to prove that the Nabob had no
power or authority at all; but what is very singular
in it, and which I recommend to the particular notice
of your Lordships, when you are scrutinizing this
matter, is, that there is not a single point stated,
to prove the nullity of this Nabob's authority, that
was not Mr. Hastings's own particular act. Well,
the Governor-General swears; the judge of the court
refers to him in his decision; he builds and bottoms it
upon the Governor-General's affidavit;- lihe swears,
I say, that the Council, by their own authority, appointed Munny Begum to be guardian to the Nabob. '; By what authority," the Governor-Geileral asks, " did the Council erect courts of law and superintend
the administration of justice, without any communiiication with the Nabob? Had the Nabob himself any
idea that he was a sovereign? Does he complain
of the reduction of his stipend or the infriniigemeiit
of treaties? No: he appears to consider himself to
be, what in fact he really is, absolutely dependent
on the Company, and to be willing to accept any pittance they would allow him for his iaintenance:
he claims no rights. Does he complain that the
administration of justice is taken into the hands of
the Company? No: by the treaty, the protection
of his subjects is delivered up to the Company; and
he well knew, that, whoever may be held up as the
? ? ? ? 232 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ostensible prince, the administration of justice must
be in the hands of those who have power to enforce
it. " He goes on, --" The Governor-General, who, I
suppose, had a delicacy to state more than what had
before been made public, closes his affidavit with saying that all lie has deposed to he believes to be publicly known, as it is particularly set forth in the printed book entitled'Reports of the Committee of
the House of Commons. ' I knew," he adds, " it was
there, and was therefore surprised at this application;
it is so notorious, that everybody in the settlement
must have known it: when I say everybody, I mean
with an exception to the gentlemen who have applied
to the court. The only reason I can give for their
applying is the little time they have been in the
country. " The judge (I think it is Chief-Justice Impey) then goes on, -" Perhaps this question might
have been determined merely on the dates of the letters to the Governor-General; but as the Council have
made the other a serious question, I should not have
thought that I had done my duty, if I had not given
a full and determinate opinion upon it: I should
have been sorry, if I had left it doubtful whether the
empty name of a Nabob should be thrust between
a delinquent and the laws, so as effectually to protect him from the hand of justice. "
My Lords, the court, as you see, bottoms its determination oin what we stand upon here, Mr. Hastings's
evidence, that the empty name of a pretended sovereign should not be thrust forth between a delinquent and justice.
What does Mr. Le Maistre, the other judge, say
upon this occasion? " With regard to this phantom,
that mall of straw, Mobarek ul Dowlah, it is ain insult
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 233
on the understanding of the court to have made the
question of his sovereignty. But as it came from the
Governor-General and Council, I have too much respect for that body to treat it ludicrously, and I confess I cannot consider it seriously, and we always shall
consider a letter of business from the Nabob the same
as a letter from the Governor-General and Counlcil. "
This is the unanimous opinion of all the judges
concerning the state and condition of the Nabob.
We have thus established the point we mean to
establish: that any use which shall be made of the
Nabob's name for the purpose of justifying any disobedience to the orders of the Company, or of bringing forward corrupt and unfit persons for the government, could be considered as no other than the act of the persons who shall make such a use of it; and
that no letter that the Nabob writes to any one in
power was or could be considered as any other than
the letter of that person himself. This we wish to
impress upon your Lordships, because, as you have
before seen the use that has been made in this way
of the Nabob of Oude, you may judge of the use that
has been made of the name of Hyder Beg Khan, and
of the names of all the eminent persons of the country.
One word more and I have done. If, whilst you
remark the use that is made of this man's name, your
Lordships shall find that this use has ever been made
of his name for his benefit, or for the purpose of giving him any useful or substantial authority, or of me-'liorating his condition in any way whatever, forgive
the fraud, forgive the disobedience. But if we have
shown your Lordships that it was for no other purpose
than to disobey thle orders of' thle Company, to trample
upon the laws ofi his country, to introduce back again,
? ? ? ? 234 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and to force into power, those very corrupt and wicked
instruments which had formerly done so much mischief, and for which mischief they were removed,
then we shall not have passed our time in vain, in
endeavoring to prove that this man, in the opinion of
a court of justice, and by public notoriety, and by
Mr. Hastings's own opinion, was held to be fit for
nothing but to be made a tool in his hands.
Having stated to your Lordships. generally the
effects produced upon the Mahometan interest of
Bengal by the misconduct of the prisoner at your bar
with respect to the appointment of the guardian of
the Nabob or Subahdar of that province, and of the
ministers of his government, I shall have the honor
of attending your Lordships another day, and shall
show you the use that has been made of this government and of the authority of the Nabob, who, as your Lordships have seen, was the mere phantom of power;
and I shall show how much a phantom he was for
every good purpose, and how effectual an instrument
lie was made for every bad one.
? ? ? ? SP E E C H
IN
GENERAL REPLY.
EIGHTH DAY: SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1794.
MY LORDS, -- Your Lordships heard, upon the
last day of the meeting of this high court, the
distribution of the several matters which I should
have occasion to lay before you, and by which I
resolved to guide myself in the examination of the
conduct of Mr. Hastings with regard to Bengal. I
stated that I should first show the manner in which
he comported himself with regard to the people who
were found in possession of the government when we
first entered into Bengal. We have shown to your
Lordships the progressive steps by which the native
government was brought into a state of annihilation.
We have stated the manner in which that government was solemnly declared by a court of justice to be depraved, and incompetent to act, and dead in law.
We have shown to your Lordships (and we have
referred you to the document) that its death was
declared upon a certificate of the principal attending
physician of the state, namely, Mr. Warren Hastings
himself. This was declared in an affidavit made by
him, wherein he has gone through all the powers of
government, of which he had regularly despoiled the
Nabob Mobarek ul Dowlah, part by part, exactly according to the ancient formula by which a degraded
? ? ? ? 236 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
knight was despoiled of his knighthood: they took, I
say, fiom him all the powers of government, article
by article, - his helmet, his slhield, his cuirass; at
last they hacked off his spurs, and left him nothing.
Mr. Hastings laid down all the premises, and left the
judges to draw the conclusion.
Your Lordships will remark (for you will find it
on your minutes) that the judges have declared this
affidavit of Mr. Hastings to be a delicate affidavit.
We have heard of affidavits that were true; we have
heard of affidavits that were perjured; but this is the
first instance that has come to our knowledge (and
we receive it as a proof of Indian refinement) of a
delicate affidavit.
This affidavit of Mr. Hastings we
shall show to your Lordships is not entitled to the
description of a good affidavit, however it might be
entitled, in the opinion of those judges, to the description of a delicate affidavit, -- a phrase by which they appear to have meant that he had furnished all
the proofs of the Nabob's deposition, but had delicately avoided to declare him expressly deposed.
The judges drew, however, this indelicate conclusion; the conclusion they drew was founded upon the premises; it was very just and logical; for they declared that lie was a mere cipher. They commended Mr. Hastings's delicacy, though they did not imitate
it; but they pronounced sentence of' deposition upon
the said Nabob, and they declared that any letter or
paper that was produced from him could not be considered as an act of government. So effectually was he removed by the judges out of the way, that no
minority, no insanity, no physical circumstances, not
even death itself, could put a man more completely
out of sight. They declare that they would consider
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 237
his letters in no other light than as the letters of
the Company, represented by the Governor-General
and Council. Thus, then, we find the Nabob legally
dead.
We find next, that he was politically dead. Mr.
Hastings, not satisfied with the affidavit he made in
court, has thought proper upon record to inform the,
Company and the world of what he considered him to
be civilly and politically.
Minute entered by the Governor-General.
" The Governor-General. - I object to this motion,"
(a motion relative to the trial above alluded to,)
"because I do not apprehend that the declaration of
the judges respecting the Nabob's sovereignty will
involve this government in any difficulties with the
French or other foreign nations. " (Mark, my Lords,
these political effects. ) " How little the screen of
the Nabob's name has hitherto availed will appear in
the frequent and inconclusive correspondence which
has been maintained with the foreign settlements, the
French especially, since the Company have thought
proper to stand forth in their real character in the
exercise of the dewanny. From that period the government of these provinces has been wholly theirs; nor can all the subtleties and distinctions of political
sophistry conceal the possession of power, where the
exercise of it is openly practised and universally
felt in its operation. In deference to the commands
of the Company, we have generally endeavored, in all
our correspondence with foreigners, to evade the direct avowal of our possessing the actual rule of the country, - employing the unapplied term government, for the power to which we exacted their submis
? ? ? ? 238 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
sion; but I do not remember any instance, and I hope
none will be found, of our having been so disingenuous as to disclaim our own power, or to affirm that the
Nabob was the real sovereign of these provinces. In
effect, I do not hesitate to say that I look uponI this
state of indecision to have been productive of all the
embarrassments which we have experienced with the
foreign settlements. None of them have ever owned
any dominion but that of the British government in
these provinces. Mr. Chevalier has repeatedly declared, that he will not acknowledge any other, but
will look to that only for the support of the privileges
possessed by his nation, and shall protest against that
alone as responsible for any act of power by which
their privileges may be violated or their property disturbed. The Dutch, the Danes, have severally applied to this government, as to the ruling power, for the grant of indulgences and the redress of their
grievances. In our replies to all, we have constantly assumed the prerogatives of that character, but
eluded the direct avowal of it; under the name of
influence we have offered them protection, and we
have granted them the indulgences of government
under elusive expressions, sometimes applied to our
treaties with the Nabobs, sometimes to our own
rights as the dewan; sometimes openly declaring the
virtual rule which we held of these provinces, we
have contended with them for the rights of government, and threatened to repel with force the encroachments on it; we in one or two instances have actually put these threats into' execution, by orders
directly issued to the officers of government and enforced by detachments from our own military forces;
the Nabob was never consulted, nor was the pretence
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - EIGHTH DAY. 239
ever made that his orders or concurrence were necessary: in a word, we have always allowed ourselves
to be treated as principals, we have treated as principals, but we have contented ourselves with letting
our actions insinuate the character which we effectually possessed, witlhout asserting it.
" For my own part, I have ever considered the reserve which has been enjoined us in this respect as a
consequence of the doubts which have long prevailed,
and whlich are still suffered to subsist, respecting the
rights of thle British government and the Company
to the property and dominion of these provinces, not
as inferring a doubt with respect to any foreign power. It has, however, been productive of great inconveniences; it has prevented our acting with vigor in our disputes with the Dutch and French. The
former refuse to this day thle payment of the bahor
peshcush, although the right is incontestably against
them, and we have threatened to enforce it. Both nations refuse to be bound by our decrees, or to submit
to our regulations; they refuse to submit to the payment of the duties on the foreign commerce but in
their own way, which amounts almost to a total exemption; they refuse to submit to the duty of ten
per cent which is levied upon foreign salt, by whllich,
unless a stop can be put to it by a more decisive
rule, they will draw the whole of that important
trade into their own colonies; and even in the single instance in which they have allowed. us to prescribe to them, namely, the embargo on grain on
the apprehension of a dearth, I am generally persuaded that they acquiesced from the secret design
of taking advantage of the general suspension, by
exporting grain clandestinely under cover of their
? ? ? ? 240 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
colors, which they knew would screen them from
the rigorous examination of our officers. We are
precluded from forming many arrangements of general utility, because of the want of control over
the European settlements; and a great part of the
defects which subsist in the government and conmmercial state of the country are ultimately derived
from this source. I have not the slightest suspicion
that a more open and decided conduct would expose us to worse consequences from the European
nationls; on the contrary, we have the worst of the
argument while we contend with them under false
colors, while they know us under the disguise, and
we have not the confidence to disown it. What we
have done and may do under an assumed character
is full as likely to involve us in a war with France,
a nation not much influenced by logical weapons,
(if such call be supposed to be the likely consequence of our own trifling disagreements with
them,) as if we stood forth their avowed opponents.
To conclude, instead of regretting, with Mr. Francis, the occasion which deprives us of so useless
and hurtful a disguise, I should rather rejoice, were
it really the case, and consider it as a crisis which
freed the constitution of our government fiom one
of its greatest defects. "
Now, my Lords, the delicacy of the affidavit is
no more; the great arcanum of the state is avowed:
it is avowed that the government is ours,- that the
Nabob is nothing. It is avowed to foreign nations;
and the disguise wlhich we have put on, MAr. Hastings states, in his opinion, to be hurtful to the affairs of the Company. Here we perceive the exact
? ? ? ? SPAECH IN REPLY. - EIGHTH DAY. 241
and the perfect agreement between his character as
a delicate affidavit-maker in a court of justice and his
indelicate declarations upon the records of the Company for the information of the whole world concerning the real arcanum of the Bengal government. Now I cannot help praising his consistency upon
this occasion, whether his policy was right or wrong.
Hitherto we find the whole consistent, we find the
affidavit perfectly supported. The inferences which
delicacy at first prevented him from producing better
recollection and more perfect policy made him here
avow. In this state things continued. The Nabob,
your Lordships see, is dead, - dead in law, dead in
politics, dead in a court of justice, dead upon the
records of the Company. Except in mere animal
existence, it is all over with him.
I have now to state to your Lordships, that Mr.
Hastings, who has the power of putting even to death
in this way, possesses likewise the art of restoring to
life. But what is the medicine that revives them?
Your Lordships, I am sure, will be glad to know what
nostrum, not hitherto pretended to by quacks in
physic, by quacks in politics, nor by quacks in law,
will serve to revive this man. to cover his dead bones
with flesh, and to give him life, activity, and vigor.
My Lords, I am about to tell you an instance of a
recipe of such infallible efficacy as was never before
discovered. His cure for all disorders is disobedience
to the commands of his lawful superiors. When the
orders of the CoUrt of Directors are contrary to his
own opinions, he forgets them all. Let the Court of
Directors but declare in favor of his own system and
his own positions, and that very moment, merely for
the purpose of declaring his right of rebellion against
VOL. XII. 16
? ? ? ? 242 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the laws of his country, he counteracts them. Then
these dead bones arise, - or, to use a language more
suitable to the dignity of the thing, Bayes's men are
all revived. '"Are these men dead? " asks Mr.
Bayes's friend. " No," says he, "they shall all get
up and dance immediately. " But in this ludicrous
view of Mr. Hastings's conduct, your Lordships must
not lose sight of its great importance. You cannot
have in an abstract, as it were, any one thing that
better develops the principles of the man, that more
fully develops all the sources of his conduct, and of
all the frauds and iniquities which he has committed,
in order at one and the same time to evade his duty
to the Court of Directors, that is to say, to the laws
of his country, and to oppress, crush, rob, and illtreat the people that are under him.
My Lords, you have had an account of the person
who represented the Nabob's dignity, Mahomed Reza
Khan; you have heard of the rank he bore, the sufferings that he went through, his trial and honorable acquittal, and the Conipany's order that the first opportunity should be taken to appoint him Naib
Subah, or deputy of the Nabob, and more especially
to represent him in the administering of justice.
Your Lordships are also acquainted with what was
done in consequence of those orders by the CouncilGeneral, in the restoration and reestablishment of
the executive power in this person,- not in the poor
Nabob, a poor, helpless, ill-bred, ill-educated boy, but
in the first Mussulman of the country, who had before
exercised the office of Naib Subah, or deputy viceroy,
-in order to give some degree of support to the expiring honor and justice of that country. The majority,
namely, General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 243
Francis, whose names, as I have before said, will, for
obedience to the Company, fidelity to the laws, honor to themselves, and a purity untouched and unimpeached, stand distinguished and honored, in spite of all the corrupt and barking virulence of India against
them, - these men, I say, obeyed the Company:
they had no secret or fraudulent connection with
Mahomed Reza Khan; but they reinstated him in
his office.
The moment that real death had carried away two
of the most virtuous of this community, and that Mr.
Hastings was thereby reestablished in his power, he
returned to his former state of rebellion to the Company, and of fraud and oppression upon the people.
And here we come to the revivificating medicine. I
forgot to tell your Lordships, that this Nabob, whose
letters were declared by a court of law, with his own
approbation, to be in effect letters of the GovernorGeneral and Council, concludes a formal application
transmitted to them, and dated 17th November, 1777,
with a demand of the restoration of his rights. Mr.
Hastings upon this enters the following minute: --
" The Nabob's demands are grounded upon positive rights, which will not admit of a discussion; he
has an incontestable right to the management of his
own household; he has an incontestable right to the
nizamut. "
My Lords, you have heard his affidavit, you have
heard his avowed and recorded opinion. In direct
defiance of both, because he wishes to make doubtful
the orders of the Company and to evade his duty, he
here makes without any delicacy a declaration, which
if it be true, the affidavit is a gross perjury, let it be
? ? ? ? 244 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
managed with what delicacy he pleases. The word
nizamut, which he uses, may be unfamiliar to your
Lordships. In India it signifies the whole executive
government, though the word strictly means viceroyalty: all the princes of that country holding their
dominions as representatives of the Mogul, the great
nominal sovereign of the empire. To convince you
that it does so, take his own explanation of it.
" It is his by inheritance: the adawlut and the foujdarry having been repeatedly declared by the Company and by this government to appertain to the'nizamut. The adawlut, namely, the distribution of civil justice, and the foujdarry, namely, the executive criminal justice of that country, that is to say, the whole
sovereign government of the courts of justice, have
been declared by the Company to appertain to the
nizamut. "
I beg of your Lordships to recollect, when you take
into your consideration the charges of the House of
Commons, that the person they accuse, and persons
suborned by him, have never scrupled to be guilty,
without sense of shame, of the most notorious falsehoods, the most glaring inconsistencies, and even of
perjury itself; and that it is thus they make the power of the Company dead or alive, as best suits their
own wicked, clandestine, and fraudulent purposes,
and the great end of all their actions and all their
politics plunder and peculation.
I must here refer your Lordships to a minute of
Mr. Francis's, which I recommend to your reading
at large, and to your very serious recollection, in
page 1086; because it contains a complete history of
Mr. Hastings's conduct, and of its effects upon this
occasion.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - EIGHTH DAY. 245
And now to proceed. - The Nabob, in a subsequent
application to the Company's government at Calcutta,
desires that Mlunny Begum may be allowed to take
on herself the whole administration of the affairs of
the nizamut, (not the superiority in the administration of the affairs of the seraglio only, though this would have been a tyrannical usurpation of the power belonging to the legitimate mother of the Nabob,) without the interference of any person whatever;
and he adds, that by this the Governor will give him
complete satisfaction. In all fraudulent correspondence you are sure to find the true secret of it at last.
It has been said by somebody, that the true sense of
a letter is to be learnt from its postscript. But this
matter is so clumsily managed, that, in contempt of
all decency, the first thing the Nabob does is to desire
he may be put into the hands of Munny Begum, and
t1at without the interference of anybody whatever.
The next letter, immediately following on the
heels of the former, was received by the Council on
the 12th of February, 1778. In this letter he desires
that Mahomed Reza Khan may be removed from his
office ill the government; and he expresses his hopes,
that, as he himself is now come to years of maturity,
and by the blessing of God is not so devoid of understanding as to be incapable of conducting his affairs, he says, "' I am therefore hopeful, from your favor
and regard to justice, that you will deliver me from
the authority of the aforesaid Mahomed Reza Khlln,
and give your permission that I take on myself the
management of the adawlut and foujdarry. " There
is no doubt of this latter application, in contradiction
to the former, having arisen from a suspicion that the
appointment of Munny Begum would be too gross,
? ? ? ? 246 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and would shock the Council; and Mr. Hastings
therefore orders the second letter to be written from
the Nabob, in which he claims the powers of government for himself. Then follows a letter from the Governor-General, informing the Nabob that it had been agreed, that, his Excellency being now arrived at
years of maturity, the control of his own household,
and the courts dependent on the nizamut and fonujdarry, should be placed in his hands; and Mahomed
Reza Kha'n was directed at the same time to resign
his authority to the Nabob.
Here your Lordships see Munny Begum in effect
completely invested with, and you will see how she
has used her power: for I suppose your Lordships
are sick of the name of Nabob, as a real actor in the
government. You now see the true parties in the
transaction, - namely, the lover, Warren Hastings,
Esquire, and Munny Begum, the object of his passion
and flame, to which he sacrifices as much as Antony
ever did to Cleopatra. You see the object of his
love and affection placed in the administration of the
viceroyalty; you see placed at her disposal the administration of the civil judicature, and of the executory justice, --together with the salary which was intended for Mahomed Reza Khan.
Your Lordships will be pleased to remember that
this distribution of the Nabob's government was made
in direct defiance of the orders of the Company.
And as a further proof of this defiance, it will not
escape your Lordships, that, before this measure was
carried into execution, Mr. Barwell being one day
absent from the Council, Mr. Hastings fell into a
minority; and it was agreed, upon that occasion,
that the whole affair should be referred home to the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - EIGHTH DAY. 247
Court of Directors, and that no arrangement should
be made till. the Directors had given their opinion.
Mr. Hastings, the very moment after Mr. Barwell's
return to his seat in the Council, rescinds this resolution, which subjected the orders of the Court of
Directors to their own reconsideration; and he hurries headlong and precipitately into the execution
of his first determination. Your Lordships will also
see in this act what sort of use Mr. Hastings made
of the Council; and I have therefore insisted upon
all these practices of the prisoner at your bar, because there is not one of them in which some principle of government is not wounded, if not mortally wounded.
My Lords, we have laid before you the consequences of this proceeding. We have shown what passed
within the walls of the seraglio, and what tyranny
was exercised by this woman over the multitude of
women there. I shall now show your Lordsllips in
what manner she made use of her power over the
supreme judicature, to peculate, and to destroy the
country; and I shall adduce, as proofs of this abuse
of her authority, the facts I am about to relate, and
of which there is evidence before your Lordships.
There was an ostensible man, named Sudder ul
EIuk Klh'a', placed there at the head of the administration of justice, with a salary of seven thousand
pounds a year of the Company's money. This mall,
ill a letter to the Governor-General and Council, received the 1st of September, 1778, says,-" His Highness himself [the Nabob] is not deficient in regard for me, but certain bad men have gained an ascendency
over his temper, by whose instigation he acts. " You
will see, my Lords, how this poor man was crippled
? ? ? ? 248 IMPEACHMIENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
in the execution of his duty, and dishonored by the
corruption of this woman and her eunuchls, to whom
Mr. Hastings had given the supreme government, and
with it anl uncontrolled influence over all the dependent parts. After thus complaining of the sligllts
lie receives from the Nabob, lie adds, -" Thus they
cause the Nabob to treat me, sometimes with indigiiity, at others with kindness, just as they think proper to advise him: their view is, that, by compelling me to displeasure at such unworthy treatment, they
may force me either to relinquish my station, or to
join withl them and act with tlheir advice, and appoint
creatures of their recommendation to thle different
offices, from which they might draw profit to themselves. " In a subsequent letter to the Governor, Sudder ul Huk Klhan says,-" The Begum's ministers, before my arrival, with the advice of their counsellors, caused the Nabob to sign a receipt, in consequence of which they received, at two different times, near fifty thousand rupees, in the name of the officers
of the adawlut, foujdarry, &c. , from the Company's
sircar; and having drawn up an account current in
the manner they wished, they got the Nabob to sign
it, and then sent it to me. " In the same letter he
asserts that these people have the Nabob entirely in
their power.
Now I have only to remark to your Lordships, that
the first and immediate operation of Mr. Hastings's
regulation, which put everything into the hands of
this wicked woman for her corrupt purposes, was,
that the office of chief-justice was trampled upon and
depraved, anid made use of to plunder the Company of money, which was appropriated to their own
uses, --and that thle person ostensibly holding this
? ? ? ? 'SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 249
office was forced to become the instrument in the
hands of this wicked woman and her two wicked
eunuchs. This, then, was the representation which
the chief-justice made to Mr. Hastings, as one of the
very first fruits of his new arrangement. I am now to
tell you what his next step was. This same Mr. Hastings, who had made the Nabob master of everything and placed everything at his disposal, who had maintained that the Nabob was not to act a secondary part and to be a mere instrument in the hands of the Company, who had, as you have seen, revived the Nabob, now puts him to death again. He pretends to be
shocked at these proceedings of the Nabob, and, not
being able to prevent their coming before the Council
of the Directors at home, he immediately took Sudder ul Huk Khan under his protection.
Now your Lordships see Mr. Hastings appearing
in his own character again, - exercising the power
he had pretended to abdicate, whilst the Nabob sinks
and subsides under him. He becomes the supporter
of Sudder ul Huk Khan, now that the infamy of the
treatment he received could no longer be concealed
from the Council.